The Others
Chapter 32 of SOS. This is the first part of the Homeworld Series of SOS, and recounts the tales of the newcomers; AJ, Aislinn, Celio and Gwendolyn. The Tale of AJ Euterpe AJ came from a world known as Euterpe; more specifically from a small city surrounded by a dense forest. In the world of Euterpe, there was a legend of a being who created some kind of magic well. The being told the people of the world that were they to find this well, they would granted with untold riches, fame, power and a wish of their desire. Naturally, this spurred the people of the world to go and find this well, eventually giving the people a very dog eat dog mentality in their hunt. AJ was of a different mindset then the norm. He was a boy who wished to help others. Ultimately he had mistreatment towards him. While interested in stories, the legend of the Well was one that he did not particularly enjoy. Seeing it as the root of corruption within his world, the boy found himself disinterested in not only finding it himself but also humoring others who wished to. This would come as no surprise then, when two people had come to his door asking for help about finding the Well, he wanted nothing to do with them. While the couple seemed oddly pushy about searching his area, and getting AJ to help them, the boy told them they were free to search his property but unlikely to actually find anything of note. Once they had accepted that he would not help them, AJ left them to their devices and went out to a nearby lake. While looking for peace and quiet, he was soon met with the hulking figure of Bob. Bob immediately got into AJ's face and just started bullying the boy for no real reason, when he was interrupted by the sudden appearance a strange anthropomorphic chicken. Terrified of it, the man ran away, leaving AJ with the strange creature. The Well After AJ thanked the chicken for helping him out with Bob, the creature then introduced himself as Chicken Little. While wondering where he had come from, apparently the chicken came from an entirely different world. Apparently in his home world, the sky had begun falling and a black void appeared in its place. Chicken Little had been caught in the swirling vortex and spat out somewhere else, unsure of where he was. While the chicken figured no one would miss him from his home world, the two then started to lament their own inability to make friends. Eventually, the duo from earlier had stumbled across AJ. Wondering if he was searching for the Well, AJ denied it and remarked that they must've not had any luck at his home. When he asked the girl of the duo why she was so intent on finding the Well, she told him that it was for the purpose of fulfilling her wish of having everyone in the world serve her. While AJ thought the woman a bit crazy, he was still strong armed into helping them search for the Well in the immediate area, before breaking off and going home with Chicken Little in tow. Once there, the boy attempted to relax, telling his mother of the events that had transpired while he was out. However, not too long after this happened did the world start to fall apart. Streaks of lightning crackling through the sky and a large looming orb of darkness made its presence known starting to break apart the world. On the request of his mother, the boy went to go into the city to help save the others there. However, on his way, he had accidentally stumbled into some completely unfamiliar area of the woods. There, he was met with the well of legend. Giving the well a coin he had, he wished for things to go back to normal but was met with no answer. The boy then left and went to go aid the others in the city. Seeing a giant hole, the boy looked down to see Bob, struggling to find some grip and not fall to the bottomless chasm below. After stating that Bob had killed his friend, Bob's pleas to save him went deaf to AJ, though the boy's conscience eventually outweighed his feelings of vengeance and he helped Bob up. Once up and out of the hole, Bob told AJ that the reason he had no friends was because he was too trusting and kind. It was for this reason that Bob claimed that his parents didn't love him, nobody ever would and that it was his fault that Bob killed his friend. Then, Bob shoved AJ down the hole, leaving him for dead. In Darkness When AJ had next awoken, he was in a land of pure darkness. Unsure if he was dead or not, the boy, with much confusion, walked through the vast expanse of darkness. After walking a random direction for some time, the boy was eventually met with figures that had haunted his nightmares. A dark hooded figure, standing a ways away from him, with hounds made of darkness rushing towards him. Unsure of what to do, the boy started to panic. In his panic, the boy had found that he was now in possession of a strange key shaped weapon, unsure of where it came from. The man in the distance then revealed himself to be AJ's deceased friend, telling the boy to stand and fight. Taking his advice, AJ conjured magic, defeating the shadowed dogs and looked to see the figure of his friend gone. Picking a random direction to travel once more, the boy was eventually lead to a giant castle looming in the distance. The Tale of Aislinn Departure The story opens with Aislinn speaking with her sister, the two discussing words of parting. It appeared that Aislinn, a wielder of the keyblade, had been tasked with a mission and destiny to go eradicate the darkness that had been encroaching upon her world. To that end, she was to go on a journey that would take her far from home. Knowing this time was upon her, Aislinn went to say goodbye to those she held close to her, the first being her sister. Next she went to visit her master, the one who had taught her all she needed to know about the keyblade, saying goodbye to him as well. As the woman made her way into her hometown, she admired the peace and cheeriness in the air. As she was saying goodbye to her home for one last time, disaster struck. The barrier that kept her people safe from the encroaching darkness started to wain as the heartless began to attack. Rushing to the aid of her people, the girl ran past the barrier to help the soldiers fighting the heartless. Despite her best efforts, though, there seemed to be no end to the flooding tide of heartless. As such, the other soldiers who had been fighting were starting to get overwhelmed, and were on the verge of death. Rushing to their aid, Aislinn managed to stave off the attacks, allowing the soldiers to retreat back beyond the barrier but leaving herself vulnerable. Taking advantage of this, the heartless continued their relentless pressure on Aislinn, eventually overwhelming her. Unable to fight back for much longer, she was eventually consumed by the tide of darkness and forced into a black abyss. When next she awoke, she had no idea where she was, only surrounded by darkness and on a singular path. Following this path, the woman had found herself at the entrance of a large, foreboding castle. The Tale of Gwendolyn Every Heart Wants to Be a Cat The story begins with Gwendolyn relaxing in the vast plains and fields of her world, resting by a tree. The girl soon had her peace interrupted by the frolicking of a cat that seemed to walk over to her and request something of her. Unsure of what to do, the girl merely humored the cat for a bit, before leading it back to the barn house which supposedly contained an almost innumerable amount of them within. After that, she had gone back to her home, simply chilling out for the time being. While she went through her general motions of the day, watching television, making food and relaxing this was all soon interrupted by a sudden scratching noise at the door. Walking over to it, the girl opened the door seeing the first cat from before being there. As the cat edged the girl forward, she decided to follow its lead, being lead to the barn house from earlier. Noting that the door was left open, the girl went to check what was inside, only to see a very strange sight. What was normally filled with nothing but cats, was instead filled with a supernatural blackness. The blackness then looked to Gwendolyn, taking the form of a horde of cat shaped heartless. Terrified, the girl began to run away with the first cat in tow, trying to flee from the terror. However, not only was she outpaced, but the world around her was starting be enveloped by a storm of darkness. As the cat heartless caught up with her, they lunged at the young girl making her fear for her life. While she was unsure of what happened at first, when she had opened her eyes next, she saw she was wielding some strange silver key like weapon, which seemed to keep the heartless at bay. While she was safe from then for the moment, the storm around her eventually swallowed her, sending her into a realm of darkness. When next she awoke, she was before a large foreboding castle. The Tale of Celio The Unforgiven The story begins with showing Celio, a knight under the Paradise Kingdom, wandering about the world with the princess of said kingdom. Close friends that they were, they were traveling about the land, until they were assaulted by some strange creature. Unable to fight against it with his makeshift sword, he tried to gain shelter in a cavern, only to be overwhelmed by the creature. When next he awoke, he was found by a wandering knight, found alone and injured. Being taken to the ruler of the kingdom, the king expressed his deepest regrets and sorrows towards the boy. Thinking the boy as a son to him, he could not think that he had done anything to harm the princess, and yet, as there was no trace of any sort of creature that fought her, he could not believe the entirety of his story. However, as a knight, Celio had failed in his duty to protect the princess and thus was expelled from the court. From then on, the boy was forced to journey the kingdom, with nothing but scorn from others to meet with during this time. Eventually, as if taken by a sudden storm, his world had been swallowed whole by the darkness. Unsure of where he was, the boy had awoken within his Station of Awakening. Met with question after question to define who he was and what his power was worth. When at the end, he had received his keyblade, the boy next awoke in the realm of darkness. With nothing but a strangely patched up dog to guide his way, Celio followed the canine, eventually walking towards a large foreboding castle in the distance.